Frisk Joins the School Marching Band
by KarmicRetribution
Summary: Frisk joins the school marching band. Toriel can't drop them off, so Papyrus drives them. Sans tags along.


'Thank you so much for agreeing to take Frisk to band practice Papyrus. This PTA meeting is running much longer than I anticipated,' Toriel texted.

Papyrus's reply was immediate. 'No problem, Lady Asgore! It is my pleasure!'

Looking up from his phone, Papyrus placed it into his inventory as he knocked on Sans's door. "SANS!" He yelled, "YOU BETTER HAVE NOT FALLEN ASLEEP!"

Getting no reply, Papyrus yells, "COME ON YOU LAZYBONES! YOU HAVE TO GET READY IF YOU WANT TO COME ALONG!"

A voice says behind him, "chill papyrus. 'snow' need to get your panties in a twist."

Spinning around Papyrus jabbed a skeletal finger at his brother, "BROTHER! WE HAVE NO TIME FOR ONE OF YOUR PUNS! WE NEED TO PICK UP THE HUMAN FRISK! AND I DON'T WEAR PANTIES!"

Sans hitches up his signature jacket and flashes his signature smile, "well then, there's no time to waste. we better 'flurry' if we want to get frisk to practice on time."

Clutching his skull, Papyrus simply says "NYEEEEEEEEEEEEH!" But he could not help the small smile that crept along his face.

"you're smiling," Sans prodded at his brother, his own smile becoming more genuine.

"I'M ALWAYS SMILING SANS," Pfiapyrus says slightly exasperated, "WE'RE SKELETONS!"

"whatever you say bro," Sans allows indulgently.

* * *

Frisk hurries out if their house at the sight of Papyrus's unmistakeable red car, that looks almost exactly like his cool racing car bed. They drag their instrument behind them while clutching their band folder in one arm. The folder is falling apart from a ton of use. A skele-ton.

When they reach the car Papyrus pops the trunk for them and they toss their instrument into it before jumping into the back seat, bouncing up and down excitedly as Papyrus starts driving, before they catch sight of Sans' face through the rear view mirror. They freeze.

"now kiddo," Sans says in disapproval "is that anyway to treat your instrument?"

Frisk hangs their head in shame and shakes it 'no'.

Sans smiles reassuringly, and says, "aw, it's ok kiddo. as long as you treat your instrument better in the future, alright?"

Frisk looks up and nods their head energetically.

Sans chuckles, reaching back to ruffle Frisk's hair, despite their protests. "say kid," Sans asks casually, "what instrument do you play anyway?"

"The clarinet," Frisk says quietly, their hands also giving the answer.

"huh." Sans looks confused.

Frisk raises an eyebrow, but before they can say anything, they are interrupted by Papyrus asking, "AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE HUMAN PLAYING THE CLARINET?"

Sans looks at his brother, before shrugging, "nothing. the clarinet is a perfectly respectable instrument. i'm just biased to the trom-bone."

Frisk giggles but Papyrus surprisingly does not groan, despite the utterance of Sans' frankly over-used pun. Instead, his face relatively neutral, Papyrus says coolly, "AH THE TROMBONE. IF NOT FOR YOUR CONSTANT PLAYING OF IT FOR INCIDENTAL MUSIC, I WOULD ENJOY IT, BUT AS IS I FIND IT OVER-USED. AS SUCH, I'M PARTIAL TO THE XYLO-BONE, MYSELF"

Shocked silence fills the car. Both Frisk and Sans stare at Papyrus, who had flicked the conveniently placed sunglasses that were on top of his skull to over his eye sockets, which added to the absurdity of the situation.

Sans starts snickering. "bro," he says, "that was awesome. you're so cool." Wiping fake tears from his eye sockets, he says, "i'm so proud."

Frisk starts giggling as well.

Papyrus smiles wider, and says, "OF COURSE BROTHER, I AM THE GREATEST, SO GREAT THAT WHAT WOULD HAVE OTHERWISE BEEN ANOTHER BAD PUN WAS SAVED BY MY QUICK THINKING AND NATURAL SKILL."

Sans nods his head in acquisition, ''course bro."

Frisk is holding their sides, laughing so hard they feel a stitch coming on. But they don't care. It's so rare when Papyrus makes a pun, more often than he would like to admit though, that even the surprise just keeps them amused. Even when they were back in the Underground.

"bro, i think you broke the human."  
"I DID NOT SANS, THEY SIMPLE KNOW A GOOD PUN WHEN THEY HEAR IT."  
"they laugh at my puns," Sans points out.  
Papyrus simply hmphed, and adds, "SOMETIMES."

Frisk manages to calm themselves to the occasional giggle. Just in time too, since the car is pulling up to the high-school stadium. They jump out if the car, and rush to the trunk, gingerly removing their instrument, mindful of what Sans had said. Glancing at the aforementioned skeleton, he flashes them a thumbs-up.

Before they run to the stadium, they pause and turn to Papyrus and Sans and ask if they would like to see them rehearse. They have almost perfected the routine and Toriel usually hangs around, if only to chat with the other parents, since she's no longer allowed to cheer encouragement as the band director said they were distracting.

Papyrus almost immediately shouts "YES!" which makes Frisk feel warm in their SOUL, while Sans takes longer, seeming to contemplate it before shrugging nonchalantly, and saying, "sure."

Smiling at Frisk, he adds, "not like I have a choice as my super awesome ride is staying too."

Frisk is just glad to show off what they've learned, and grasps Papyrus' mitten in one hand, the other holding their instrument, and pulls him towards the stadium. By the time they get there Sans has already picked a seat, and it's time to set up for block.

Frisk puts together their instrument, and hurries to join their section, clarinet at the ready. While the block runs, Sans and Papyrus hit it off with the other parents, despite the parents being slightly unsettled by the sight of the skeletal brothers, instead of the usual Toriel, but they manage to push it aside.

The block ends and the kids set up at the top of their performance after thirty minutes, and Papyrus trades spaghetti recipes with one of the parents as Sans chats with a single mother of one of the tuba players.

"Frisk seems like such a sweet kid," she says, "they are always offering their assistance, and they even stay after to help the ensemble lug their instruments back to the band room."

"heh, yeah," Sans chuckles.

The single mother, who had introduced herself as Amanda comments offhandly, "They must be easy for Toriel to take care of."

"they're a good kid. always does their chores and finishes off their snail pie. of course, with the promise of cinnamon-butterscotch pie, i would finish off my snail pie too. heck, i'd even clean my room.' He winks an eye shut as he smiles at her. 'of course, every kid has their… quirk."

She laughs. "Tell me about it. My son, he gets good grades and is not a very picky eater. He does almost all his chores except clean his room. It's a pigsty! I keep telling him, what if you get a girlfriend? Do you want her to see what a slob you are? Of course, I'm only teasing as he knows-"

Sans listens to Amanda chatter on, not very interested, but her company is pleasant nonetheless. He mostly watches the different sets the kids run, and they go until halfway through 'Movement One' before they stop.

"Okay!" The band leader shouts. "That was a good run! Remember to keep your shoulders flat! Okay, back to the top! Reset!"

As soon as the words are out of the poor guy's mouth, Sans' instincts kick in. Eye flashing dangerously, he jumps to his feet ad shouts, "NO!" His arm outstretched, he comes to his senses only when Amanda grips his jacket. "Sans what's wrong with you?!" She demands hysterically.

He looks around, and he realizes that all the kids on the field are either staring at him blankly, with concern, or with fear. The band leader's SOUL is in his magic's blue grasp. The guy is sweating, but otherwise he stays outwardly calm, his fear palpable to Sans through his hold on his SOUL. Frisk is looking at him with concern, and a bit of understanding.

Ashamed, Sans lower his arm and disperses his magic. He looks down and, Amanda having releases her grip on his arm, he walks away quickly. He ignores his brother when he passes by him, and as soon as he out of sight of everyone, he takes a short cut back to the car. He slinks down in his seat, and guiltily waits for the rest of practice to be over.

It ends shortly, letting out earlier than usual. A flood of students head out, either calling their parents or going with the parents that have already arrived. Papyrus strides confidently towards his car, holding Frisk's hand with his own. They get in the car and set off.

It's silent for the first five minutes, then Papyrus, asks worriedly "Sans, are you ok?"

Sans remains silent for a couple of seconds, before sighing. "I'm fine bro."

While he can't see it, he can feel Frisk's disbelieving look. Papyrus looks the same. Frisk says, "I call bull."

"FRISK, LANGUAGE!" Papyrus chides. Sans cracks a small smile. "aw bro, 'cow' come you have to be like that?"

"SANS! THAT WAS TERRIBLE, EVEN FOR YOU!"

Sans laughs. "yeah, i guess." He becomes serious again.

Papyrus glances over at him. "Does this relate to your nightmares?"  
Sans sighs, "Yeah." He sees in the review mirror the saddened look on the kid's face.  
"don't worry kid, it's not your fault. I've been messed up long before you came around." He smiles widely, "in fact, you're the best possible thing to have happened to the underground. you could have been a lot worse, but you helped everyone be free." he smiles at his brother.

There's a moment of silence, and then Frisk gives Sans a nod of understanding. There's a look on their face he doesn't quite understand, but it passes quickly.

"OH, SANS, BY THE WAY," Papyrus says energetically, correctly inferencing that Sans was better, "THAT LADY YOU WERE TALKING TO, AMANDA, SHE ASKED IF YOU WERE OK AND INSISTED THAT SHE WASN'T IN ANY WAY UPSET AT YOU, NOR WERE MOST OF THE PARENTS THERE."

Sans lets out a small sigh of relief. "that's good."

The rest of the trip passes relatively peacefully, with Papyrus mostly filling it up with chatter. They drop off the kid, who waves energetically until they are out of sight before heading inside, and then they're home.

San wearily follows Papyrus inside, and goes to head upstairs to his room, but bumps into something. He looks up to see Papyrus is standing in his way. He entertains briefly the thought of just teleporting upstairs, but decides quickly against it. Papyrus deserves more than that from him, and he deserves a conversation.

"SANS, WE SHOULD TALK."

Sans nods. "of course bro." He may have told Papyrus a lot since being released from the Underground, but some things he still kept to himself. Maybe it was time to reveal all his cards. He could practically feel the weight lifting off of his shoulders as he and his bro head into the living room to talk.

* * *

 **Author's Note: What do you guys think? Feedback is always appreciated.**


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